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This is a Very rare German steel made shell case 5cm KwK39 dated 1942.The shell was only fired by the Panzer 3 tank and are very very rare to get from the battlefield properly one of the rarest German tank shells there is.The case is in nice condition for a relic which still retains some of its original brass wash colour but has badly discoloured and has rust holes down one side and a bit of damage around the top from being buried also it still has some dirt attached on the bottom most its markings on the base are there but not very clear to read a really nice example of this shell case which has been well cleaned and is perfect for any collection or display.This case was recovered from the site of a destroyed Panzer 3 tank just outside Sevastopol the battlefield of 1941-1942 in the Crimea the Germans last big victory in East.

In late July 1941, Hitler ordered Army Group South to seize the Crimea as part of its operations to secure the Ukraine and the Donets Basin, in order to protect the vital Romanian oil refineries at Ploesti from Soviet air attack. After weeks of heavy fighting, the Germans breached the Soviet defenses and overran most of the Crimea. By November 1941 the only remaining Soviet foothold in the area was the heavily fortified naval base at Sevastopol.

Operation Sturgeon Haul, the final assault on Sevastopol, was one of the very few joint service German operations of World War II, with two German corps and a Romanian corps supported by a huge artillery siege train on the 4th July 1942 Thirty thousand Soviets surrendered and in July itself a total of 90,000 prisoners were taken also 467 guns, 758 mortars, and 155 antitank guns captured. Two more Soviet armies were smashed and an estimated 50,000 of the enemy killed on the battlefield. Including civilians, Soviet casualties were about 250,000 for the entire siege.Despite Manstein’s efforts to spare his infantry and crush the defenders with overwhelming bombardment, official Eleventh Army losses numbered 4,337 dead, 1,591 missing, and 18,183 wounded. Actual casualties were probably much higher, up to 75,000. In addition, they had used up 46,700 tons of munitions and 20,000 tons of bombs.

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